The idea may be more than 300 years old, but now it's back in the news: a canal, similar to those in Panama and suez, cutting southern Thailand in two and thus creating a short cut between the Far east, the Persian Gulf, and Europe.

“The Chinese government is determined to tackle smog and environmental pollution as a whole”, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang assured reporters, although he admitted that the pace of progress had not quite lived up to expectations.